I think some of the negative reviews about the marks are mostly to do with expectations rather than
the actual marking system itself.
We as magicians have gotten spoiled by recent decks on
the market such as Penguin's Marked Maidens, the DMC Elites, and others. These relatively huge marks
are pretty new in the world of marked cards.
The Emperor deck uses a system that relies on
small dots and a bit of decoding.
I agree that most magicians would find another deck more
useful within the context of a trick, but the Emperors are far from useless. It's just important to
know before you buy that these are more of an old-school marking like gamblers might have used back
in the day, rather than a super huge & easy to read system like we've so quickly grown accustomed
to.
The design of the cards is gorgeous, and they handle great.
I am in my mid-30s
and wear glasses. The Emperor won't be my "daily use" marked deck at every gig, but I found the
system easy to learn and not all that difficult to read from a couple feet away.
Another
reviewer mentioned the Butterfly marked decks, which you also have to decode with fairly small
marks. I don't find the Butterfly any easier or more difficult to read than the Emperor, and I don't
see anyone complaining about the Butterflies. It's just that expectations were laid out more.
For future decks, Penguin should clarify whether the decks are more like the plainly-readable
marked decks or the more old-school coded style.
Know what to expect
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